1.
Walt Disney Studios (Burbank)
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The Walt Disney Studios, in Burbank, California, United States, serves as the corporate headquarters for The Walt Disney Company media conglomerate. The Studios are one of two major studios that do not currently offer backlot tours to the general public, the other being 20th Century Fox. For several years, Adventures by Disney has offered tours of the studio, the other way to tour the studio is to join the official Disney D23 fan club, which offers tours to members every few months. The studio used to open to the once a year in November on the Saturday before Thanksgiving for its annual Magical Holiday Faire craft sale. As an aid to visitors, many buildings on the Disney lot are marked with identifying signs that include historical information. The Studio is a part of the Walt Disney Studios Disney Studio Services unit – along with Golden Oak Ranch, The Prospect Studios, prior to the official opening of the Burbank lot in 1940, the Walt Disney Studios was situated at several different locations in Los Angeles. During summer 1923, Walt Disney created The Disney Bros, cartoon Studio in his uncle Robert Disneys garage, which was located at 4406 Kingswell Avenue, in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles. This garage has been on display at the Stanley Ranch Museum in Garden Grove since the 1980s and his brother Roy O. Disney was also in Los Angeles at the time. During October 1923, the brothers leased office space on the side of a real estate agencys office at 4651 Kingswell Avenue. On October 16,1923, Walt Disney accepted an offer from Margaret Winkler of Universal Studios to distribute the new Alice Comedies starring Virginia Davis. It was also at this site where on January 14,1924, Walt Disney met his future wife Lillian Bounds, in February 1924, the studio moved next door to an office of its own at 4649 Kingswell Avenue. The late Robert Disneys residence and the office building that is home to 4649 and 4651 Kingswell Avenue have survived to the present and are still in use. In 1925, Walt Disney placed a deposit on a new, considerably larger lot at 2719 Hyperion Avenue, and it was here where, after a train journey with his wife Lillian, Walt fully created the character of Mickey Mouse in 1928. The first color animated film, the Silly Symphony Flowers and Trees, in 1937, the Hyperion studio produced the worlds first full-length animated feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Disneys staff began to grow to a size at the Hyperion studio. The current Walt Disney Studios, located at 500 South Buena Vista Street, Burbank, was possible by the revenue from the 1937 release of Snow White. Walt Disney and his staff began the move from the old studio at Hyperion Avenue in Silver Lake on December 24,1939, a bungalow and other small buildings that were located at the Hyperion Avenue location were moved to Burbank. Disney purposely planned his new Burbank studio around the animation process, underground tunnels linked some of the buildings, and the lot also included a movie theatre, a sound stage, and a commissary
2.
Burbank, California
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Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States,12 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. The population at the 2010 census was 103,340, Entertainment, Nickelodeon Animation Studios, NBC, Cartoon Network Studios with the West Coast branch of Cartoon Network, and Insomniac Games. The city is home to Bob Hope Airport. Burbank consists of two areas, a downtown/foothill section, in the foothills of the Verdugo Mountains. Burbank is the easternmost city in the San Fernando Valley, Burbanks neighbor, Glendale, is the westernmost city in the San Gabriel Valley. The city was referred to as Beautiful Downtown Burbank on Laugh-In, the city was named after David Burbank, a New Hampshire-born dentist and entrepreneur who established a sheep ranch there in 1867. Historically, this area was the scene of a skirmish which resulted in the unseating of the Spanish Governor of California. Remnants of the battle reportedly were found many years later in the vicinity of Warner Bros. Studio when residents dug up cannonballs, by 1876, the San Fernando Valley became the largest wheat-raising area in Los Angeles County. But the droughts of the 1860s and 1870s underlined the need for water supplies. A professionally trained dentist, Dr. Burbank began his career in Waterville and he joined the great migration westward in the early 1850s and, by 1853 was living in San Francisco. At the time the American Civil War broke out he was well established in his profession as a dentist in Pueblo de Los Angeles. In 1867, he purchased Rancho La Providencia from David W. Alexander and Francis Mellus, Dr. Burbanks property reached nearly 9,200 acres at a cost of $9,000. Dr. Burbank wouldnt acquire full titles to both properties until after a decision known as the Great Partition was made in 1871 dissolving the Rancho San Rafael. Dr. Burbank also later owned the Burbank Theatre, which opened on November 27,1893, though the theater was intended to be an opera house, instead it staged plays and became known nationally. The theatre featured famous actors of the time including Fay Bainter and Marjorie Rambeau, when the area that became Burbank was settled in the 1870s and 1880s, the streets were aligned along what is now Olive Avenue, the road to the Cahuenga Pass and downtown Los Angeles. These were largely the roads the Indians traveled and the settlers took their produce down to Los Angeles to sell. At the time, the primary long-distance transportation methods available to San Fernando Valley residents were stagecoach, stagecoaching between Los Angeles and San Francisco through the Valley began in 1858
3.
Rock music
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It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by blues, rhythm and blues and country music. Rock music also drew strongly on a number of genres such as electric blues and folk. Musically, rock has centered on the guitar, usually as part of a rock group with electric bass guitar. Typically, rock is song-based music usually with a 4/4 time signature using a verse-chorus form, like pop music, lyrics often stress romantic love but also address a wide variety of other themes that are frequently social or political in emphasis. Punk was an influence into the 1980s on the subsequent development of subgenres, including new wave, post-punk. From the 1990s alternative rock began to rock music and break through into the mainstream in the form of grunge, Britpop. Similarly, 1970s punk culture spawned the visually distinctive goth and emo subcultures and this trio of instruments has often been complemented by the inclusion of other instruments, particularly keyboards such as the piano, Hammond organ and synthesizers. The basic rock instrumentation was adapted from the blues band instrumentation. A group of musicians performing rock music is termed a rock band or rock group, Rock music is traditionally built on a foundation of simple unsyncopated rhythms in a 4/4 meter, with a repetitive snare drum back beat on beats two and four. Melodies are often derived from older musical modes, including the Dorian and Mixolydian, harmonies range from the common triad to parallel fourths and fifths and dissonant harmonic progressions. Critics have stressed the eclecticism and stylistic diversity of rock, because of its complex history and tendency to borrow from other musical and cultural forms, it has been argued that it is impossible to bind rock music to a rigidly delineated musical definition. These themes were inherited from a variety of sources, including the Tin Pan Alley pop tradition, folk music and rhythm, as a result, it has been seen as articulating the concerns of this group in both style and lyrics. Christgau, writing in 1972, said in spite of some exceptions, rock and roll usually implies an identification of male sexuality, according to Simon Frith rock was something more than pop, something more than rock and roll. Rock musicians combined an emphasis on skill and technique with the concept of art as artistic expression, original. The foundations of music are in rock and roll, which originated in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. Its immediate origins lay in a melding of various musical genres of the time, including rhythm and blues and gospel music, with country. In 1951, Cleveland, Ohio disc jockey Alan Freed began playing rhythm and blues music for a multi-racial audience, debate surrounds which record should be considered the first rock and roll record. Other artists with rock and roll hits included Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Fats Domino, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis
4.
Alternative rock
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Alternative rock is a genre of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular in the 1990s and 2000s. In this instance, the word refers to the genres distinction from mainstream rock music. The terms original meaning was broader, referring to a generation of musicians unified by their debt to either the musical style or simply the independent. Ethos of punk rock, which in the late 1970s laid the groundwork for alternative music, Alternative rock is a broad umbrella term consisting of music that differs greatly in terms of its sound, its social context, and its regional roots. Most of these subgenres had achieved minor mainstream notice and a few bands representing them, such as Hüsker Dü, with the breakthrough of Nirvana and the popularity of the grunge and Britpop movements in the 1990s, alternative rock entered the musical mainstream and many alternative bands became successful. By the end of the decade, alternative rocks mainstream prominence declined due to a number of events that caused grunge and Britpop to fade, emo attracted attention in the larger alternative rock world, and the term was applied to a variety of artists, including multi-platinum acts. Post-punk revival artists such as Modest Mouse and The Killers had commercial success in the early, before the term alternative rock came into common usage around 1990, the sort of music to which it refers was known by a variety of terms. In 1979, Terry Tolkin used the term Alternative Music to describe the groups he was writing about, in 1979 Dallas radio station KZEW had a late night new wave show entitled Rock and Roll Alternative. College rock was used in the United States to describe the music during the 1980s due to its links to the radio circuit. In the United Kingdom, dozens of small do it yourself record labels emerged as a result of the punk subculture, according to the founder of one of these labels, Cherry Red, NME and Sounds magazines published charts based on small record stores called Alternative Charts. The first national chart based on distribution called the Indie Chart was published in January 1980, at the time, the term indie was used literally to describe independently distributed records. By 1985, indie had come to mean a particular genre, or group of subgenres, at first the term referred to intentionally non–mainstream rock acts that were not influenced by heavy metal ballads, rarefied new wave and high-energy dance anthems. The use of alternative gained further exposure due to the success of Lollapalooza, for which festival founder, in the late 1990s, the definition again became more specific. Defining music as alternative is often difficult because of two conflicting applications of the word, the name alternative rock essentially serves as an umbrella term for underground music that has emerged in the wake of punk rock since the mid-1980s. Alternative bands during the 1980s generally played in clubs, recorded for indie labels. Sounds range from the gloomy soundscapes of gothic rock to the guitars of indie pop to the dirty guitars of grunge to the 1960s/1970s revivalism of Britpop. This approach to lyrics developed as a reflection of the social and economic strains in the United States and United Kingdom of the 1980s, by 1984, a majority of groups signed to independent record labels mined from a variety of rock and particularly 1960s rock influences. This represented a break from the futuristic, hyper-rational post-punk years
5.
Hip hop music
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It developed as part of hip hop culture, a subculture defined by four key stylistic elements, MCing/rapping, DJing/scratching with turntables, break dancing, and graffiti writing. Other elements include sampling beats or bass lines from records, while often used to refer solely to rapping, hip hop more properly denotes the practice of the entire subculture. Hip hops early evolution occurred as sampling technology and drum machines became available and affordable. Turntablist techniques such as scratching and beatmatching developed along with the breaks and Jamaican toasting, rapping developed as a vocal style in which the artist speaks or chants along rhythmically with an instrumental or synthesized beat. The Sugarhill Gangs 1979 song Rappers Delight is widely regarded to be the first hip hop record to gain popularity in the mainstream. The 1980s marked the diversification of hip hop as the genre developed more complex styles, prior to the 1980s, hip hop music was largely confined within the United States. However, during the 1980s, it began to spread to scenes in dozens of countries. New school hip hop was the wave of hip hop music, originating in 1983–84 with the early records of Run-D. M. C. The Golden age hip hop period was a period between the mid-1980s and the early 1990s. Notable artists from this era include the Juice Crew, Public Enemy, & Rakim, Boogie Down Productions and KRS-One, EPMD, Slick Rick, Beastie Boys, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane, Ultramagnetic MCs, De La Soul, and A Tribe Called Quest. Gangsta rap is a subgenre of hip hop that often focuses on the violent lifestyles, in the West Coast hip hop style, G-funk dominated mainstream hip hop for several years during the 1990s. I. G. In the 1990s, hip hop began to diversify with other regional styles emerging, such as Southern rap, at the same time, hip hop continued to be assimilated into other genres of popular music, examples being Neo soul and nu metal. Hip hop became a pop music genre in the mid-1990s. The popularity of hip hop music continued through the 2000s, with hip hop influences also increasingly finding their way into mainstream pop, the United States also saw the success of regional styles such as crunk, a Southern genre that emphasized the beats and music more than the lyrics. Starting in 2005, sales of hip hop music in the United States began to severely wane, during the mid-2000s, alternative hip hop secured a place in the mainstream, due in part to the crossover success of artists such as OutKast and Kanye West. Creation of the hip hop is often credited to Keith Cowboy, rapper with Grandmaster Flash. However, Lovebug Starski, Keith Cowboy, and DJ Hollywood used the term when the music was known as disco rap. Cowboy later worked the hip hop cadence into a part of his stage performance, the first use of the term in print was in The Village Voice, by Steven Hager, later author of a 1984 history of hip hop
6.
Country music
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Country music is a genre of United States popular music that originated in the southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from the genre of United States, such as folk music. Blues modes have been used throughout its recorded history. The term country music is used today to many styles and subgenres. In 2009 country music was the most listened to rush hour radio genre during the evening commute, immigrants to the Southern Appalachian Mountains of North America brought the music and instruments of Europe and Africa along with them for nearly 300 years. Country music was introduced to the world as a Southern phenomenon, Bristol, Tennessee, has been formally recognized by the U. S. Congress as the Birthplace of Country Music, based on the historic Bristol recording sessions of 1927. Since 2014, the city has been home to the Birthplace of Country Music Museum, historians have also noted the influence of the less-known Johnson City sessions of 1928 and 1929, and the Knoxville sessions of 1929 and 1930. Prior to these, pioneer settlers, in the Great Smoky Mountains region, had developed a musical heritage. The first generation emerged in the early 1920s, with Atlantas music scene playing a role in launching countrys earliest recording artists. Okeh Records began issuing hillbilly music records by Fiddlin John Carson as early as 1923, followed by Columbia Records in 1924, many hillbilly musicians, such as Cliff Carlisle, recorded blues songs throughout the 1920s. The most important was the Grand Ole Opry, aired starting in 1925 by WSM in Nashville, during the 1930s and 1940s, cowboy songs, or Western music, which had been recorded since the 1920s, were popularized by films made in Hollywood. Bob Wills was another musician from the Lower Great Plains who had become very popular as the leader of a hot string band. His mix of country and jazz, which started out as dance hall music, Wills was one of the first country musicians known to have added an electric guitar to his band, in 1938. Country musicians began recording boogie in 1939, shortly after it had played at Carnegie Hall. Gospel music remained a component of country music. It became known as honky tonk, and had its roots in Western swing and the music of Mexico. By the early 1950s a blend of Western swing, country boogie, rockabilly was most popular with country fans in the 1950s, and 1956 could be called the year of rockabilly in country music. Beginning in the mid-1950s, and reaching its peak during the early 1960s, the late 1960s in American music produced a unique blend as a result of traditionalist backlash within separate genres
7.
Demi Lovato
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Demetria Devonne Demi Lovato is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. The success of the film and its soundtrack resulted in a contract with Hollywood Records. Her debut album, Dont Forget, debuted at two on the US Billboard 200. She entered a treatment center in November 2010 to seek help for addictions, an eating disorder, while there, she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Work on her studio album, Unbroken, began after she successfully completed treatment. The album addresses several of her difficulties and its lead single, Skyscraper, became Lovatos second top 10 entry in the US, while its second single, Give Your Heart a Break, was certified triple platinum in the country. Lovato was a judge and mentor on the American version of The X Factor in 2012 and 2013 and her third album, Demi, opened with first-week sales of 110,000 copies. The lead single from her eponymous album, Heart Attack, became her third top 10 in the US, while promoting the project, Lovato released a book titled Staying Strong,365 Days a Year. She also returned to acting as a character in Glee. Lovatos fifth album, Confident, reached two on the Billboard 200. Its lead single Cool for the Summer was eventually certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. All five of Lovatos albums have received a certification in the US. Musically, Lovato is considered a pop, pop rock, in 2013, Maxim ranked her 26th on its Hot 100 list and Billboard ranked her second on its Social 50 Artists of the Year list. Outside the entertainment industry, Lovato has been involved with social and environmental causes since the launch of her career. C. She has also become an advocate for the LGBT community, in 2014, she was announced as the Grand Marshal for LA Pride week, and that same year she became the face for Human Rights Campaigns Americans for Marriage Equality Campaign. In April 2016, Lovato was honored with the GLAAD Vanguard Award for making a significant difference in promoting equal rights for LGBT people. Lovato was born on August 20,1992, in Albuquerque, New Mexico to engineer and musician Patrick Martin Lovato and former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader Dianna De La Garza. Lovato has a sister, Dallas, a younger maternal half-sister, actress Madison De La Garza
8.
Breaking Benjamin
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Breaking Benjamin is an American rock band from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, founded in 1999 by lead singer and guitarist Benjamin Burnley and drummer Jeremy Hummel. The first lineup of the band included guitarist Aaron Fink. This lineup released two albums, Saturate and We Are Not Alone, before Hummel was replaced by Chad Szeliga in 2005, the band released two more studio albums, Phobia and Dear Agony, before entering an extended hiatus in early 2010 due to Burnleys recurring illnesses. Szeliga later announced his departure in 2013 citing creative differences, the band afterward released Dark Before Dawn in 2015. Despite significant lineup changes, the musical style and lyrical content has remained consistent, with Burnley serving as the primary composer. The band has commonly noted for its formulaic hard rock tendencies with angst-heavy lyrics, swelling choruses. The band has produced one number one record on the Billboard 200. Benjamin Burnley was originally in a band named Breaking Benjamin in 1998 that played music such as Weezer and The Beatles covers. The name originates from an incident in which Burnley broke a borrowed microphone, prompting its owner to retort and this band included guitarist Aaron Fink, bassist Nick Hoover, and drummer Chris Lightcap, but soon broke up when Burnley moved to California. After returning to Pennsylvania with drummer Jeremy Hummel, Burnley formed Plan 9, the three-piece first gained attention when Freddie Fabbri, a DJ for active rock radio station WBSX, put the groups track Polyamorous in rotation. After it became the one requested track on the station, Fabbri financed the recording of the groups eponymous EP. Jonathan Bug Price was credited on bass, replacing Davoli, after growing dissatisfied with their previous band, former bandmate Aaron Fink and bassist Mark Klepaski joined Breaking Benjamin. In early 2002, over a dozen record companies visited a two-night showcase where Breaking Benjamin was playing, shortly afterward, Breaking Benjamin began recording their first full-length major-label record, Saturate, which was released on August 7,2002 and produced by Ulrich Wild. It peaked at No.136 on the Billboard 200, and was certified gold on September 25,2015. In early 2003, Breaking Benjamin participated in the Jägermeister Music Tour, the disc received a favorable review from Schwegwebs Vin Cherubino, who noted, The music has just as much quality as any popular artist in the same genre. Influences from bands such as Tool can be heard, making the music seem all so familiar, Breaking Benjamin returned to the studio in October 2003 with producer David Bendeth for their sophomore effort We Are Not Alone. Burnley also worked with The Smashing Pumpkins front man Billy Corgan over the course of six days in December 2003 to write the songs Rain, Forget It, despite initially being nervous, Burnley felt it was one of the highlights of his career. The album was released on June 29,2004 and sold 48,000 copies in its first week and it was later certified gold on October 21,2004, then platinum on June 13,2005
9.
R5 (band)
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R5 is an American pop rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 2009. The band consists of lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist Ross Lynch, Riker Lynch, Rocky Lynch, Rydel Lynch, since releasing their debut album, Louder, on September 24,2013, which peaked at #24 on the Billboard 200, they have toured across five continents. Their sophomore album, Sometime Last Night, was released on July 10,2015, and debuted at #6 on the Billboard 200 in the US and they have also released four EPs, ten singles, and a live DVD. About a year meeting, they asked Ratliff to join the band. While living in Colorado, the Lynch children went to an arts school. They used to put on shows for their family and charged them at least a dollar to watch them perform in their basement, at age 16, Riker decided he wanted to move to L. A. to pursue an acting career. Their parents, Mark and Stormie, moved the family there in order to stay together. Shortly after the move, the siblings began appearing in commercials, while Rocky began teaching himself, Ross, in 2009, R5 officiated the band and debuted their YouTube web series, R5 TV, documenting the bands day-to-day life and career beginning. On September 5, they released their first music video, Without You, no official single was released from EP. On September 4 they released a video for Cant Get Enough of You and, in the next mouth. On July 26,2011, the released their debut promotional single. The music video was released on August 3, in April 2012, the band members announced via their website that they had signed a record deal with Hollywood Records, and that they were planning for their first mini-tour in May. They collaborated on charity single Make Some Noise for Family Channels Stand Up philanthropic campaign and their debut tour, West Coast Tour, started on May 3,2012 and traveled only to west coast. The second tour, East Coast Tour started on December 15, in Jamestown, New York and they also held three special concerts, entitled 3M Tour, at Madison on November 18,2012, Milwaukee on November 19 and Minneapolis on November 20. On February 19,2013, they released the four-song EP Loud, One of the songs on the EP, Here Comes Forever, was written by Riker, Rocky and Ross. The R5s debut single, Loud, was released on February 13, the song peaked at number 72 in Japan and 199 in United Kingdom. On August 16,2013, Pass Me By, the single from their debut album Louder, was released. Louder was released on September 24,2013, and climbed its way to number 2 on the iTunes charts, being classified as a chart-topper on the iTunes End of the Year Album list
10.
The Smashing Pumpkins
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The Smashing Pumpkins are an American alternative rock band from Chicago, Illinois, formed in 1988. Formed by frontman Billy Corgan and James Iha, the band included Darcy Wretzky and it has undergone many line-up changes over the course of its existence, with the current lineup being Corgan and rhythm guitarist Jeff Schroeder. The Smashing Pumpkins broke into the mainstream with their second album. The group built its audience with extensive touring and their 1995 follow-up, the double album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, with 20 million albums sold in the United States alone, The Smashing Pumpkins were one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed bands of the 1990s. However, internal fighting, drug use, and diminishing record sales led to a 2000 break-up, in 2006, Corgan and Chamberlin reconvened to record a new Smashing Pumpkins album, Zeitgeist. After touring throughout 2007 and 2008 with a lineup including new guitarist Jeff Schroeder, by mid-2016, Corgan stated that they were considering reforming the bands original lineup, though no concrete plans have been revealed. While working there, he met guitarist James Iha, adorning themselves with paisley and other psychedelic trappings, the two began writing songs together that were heavily influenced by The Cure and New Order. The duo performed live for the first time on July 9,1988 at the Polish bar Chicago 21 and this performance included only Corgan on bass and Iha on guitar with a drum machine. Shortly thereafter, Corgan met Darcy Wretzky after a show by the Dan Reed Network where they argued the merits of the band, after finding out Wretzky played bass guitar, Corgan recruited her into the lineup and the now-trio played a show at the Avalon Nightclub. After this show, Cabaret Metro owner Joe Shanahan agreed to book the band on the condition that they replace the machine with a live drummer. Jazz drummer Jimmy Chamberlin was recommended by a friend of Corgans, Chamberlin knew little of alternative music and immediately changed the sound of the nascent band. As Corgan recalled of the period, We were completely into the sad-rock and it took about two or three practices before I realized that the power in his playing was something that enabled us to rock harder than we could ever have imagined. On October 5,1988, the band took the stage for the first time at the Cabaret Metro. In 1989, The Smashing Pumpkins made their first appearance on record with the compilation album Light Into Dark, the group released its first single, I Am One, in 1990 on local Chicago label Limited Potential. The single sold out and they released a follow-up, Tristessa, on Sub Pop, the band recorded their 1991 debut studio album Gish with producer Butch Vig at his Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin for $20,000. In order to gain the consistency he desired, Corgan often played all instruments excluding drums, the music fused heavy metal guitars, psychedelia, and dream pop, garnering them comparisons to Janes Addiction. Gish became a success, with the single Rhinoceros receiving some airplay on modern rock radio. After releasing the Lull EP in October 1991 on Caroline Records, the band signed with Virgin Records
11.
Dr. Dre
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Andre Romelle Young, better known by his stage name Dr. Dre, is an American rapper, record producer, and entrepreneur. He is the founder and current CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics, Dre was previously the co-owner of, and an artist on, Death Row Records. He has produced albums for and overseen the careers of many rappers, including 2Pac, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Xzibit, Knoc-turnal,50 Cent, The Game and Kendrick Lamar. He is credited as a key figure in the popularization of West Coast G-funk, in 1996, he left Death Row Records to establish his own label, Aftermath Entertainment. He produced an album titled Dr. Dre Presents the Aftermath in 1996. During the 2000s, he focused on production for other artists, Dr. Dre signed Eminem in 1998 and 50 Cent in 2002 to his record label respectively, while contributing production on their albums. He has won six Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year, Dr. Dre has also had acting roles in movies such as Set It Off, The Wash and Training Day. Rolling Stone ranked Dre at 56 on their list of 100 Greatest Artists of All-Time, Young was born in Compton, California, the first child of Theodore and Verna Young. His middle name, Romelle, is derived from his fathers amateur R&B singing group and his parents married in 1964, separated in 1968, and divorced in 1972. His mother later remarried and had three children, sons Jerome and Tyree and daughter Shameka, in 1976, Young began attending Vanguard Junior High School in Compton, but due to gang violence, he transferred to the safer suburban Roosevelt Junior High School. Young is the cousin of producer Sir Jinx and he attended Centennial High School in Compton during his freshman year in 1979, but transferred to Fremont High School in South Central Los Angeles due to poor grades. Young attempted to enroll in a program at Northrop Aviation Company. Thereafter, he focused on his life and entertainment for the remainder of his high school years. Young fathered a son with Cassandra Joy Greene named Curtis, Curtis was brought up by his mother and first met his father 20 years later, when Curtis became rapper Hood Surgeon. Inspired by the Grandmaster Flash song The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel, he attended a club called Eve After Dark to watch many DJs. He subsequently became a DJ in the club, initially under the name Dr. J, based on the nickname of Julius Erving, at the club, he met aspiring rapper Antoine Carraby, later to become member DJ Yella of N. W. A. Soon afterwards he adopted the moniker Dr. Dre, a mix of previous alias Dr. J and his first name, Eve After Dark had a back room with a small four-track studio. In this studio, Dre and Yella recorded several demos, in their first recording session, they recorded a song entitled Surgery, with the lyrics calling Dr. Dre to surgery serving as the chorus to the song
